Windows 7 has swapped my drive paths with my boot drive and sec. drive

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  1. Posts : 9
    windows 7 pro x64
       #1

    Windows 7 has swapped my drive paths with my boot drive and sec. drive


    I have just finished a pc build with a SSD to be used as the boot/OS drive and a secondary 2 HDD setup in raid 0 for storage.

    First I started with the SSD only and installed win7, applied all the updates etc. At this point the system has rebooted at least half a dozen times with no issue.
    Next I set up the 2 HDD in raid 0, initialized it with disk manager and everything is looking good. But as soon as I reboot the system, upon startup the system can't find a os. Using the windows install disc, I go into the recovery console and discover that the boot drive which was C:\ is now E:\ and the storage drive which was E:\ is now C:\.
    The os files on the boot drive seem to be all there. It's just in the wrong drive path. Using the recovery console I switched back the drives to their proper places, but then on startup I got the error 'bootmgr is missing' at this point I gave up, nuked the drives and started from scratch only to get thing again once I initialized the HDD and rebooted.
    I am sure I have overlooked some stupid detail somewhere. Can anyone help me figure out where I went wrong?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 1,519
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit, Mac OS X 10.10, Linux Mint 17, Windows 10 Pro TP
       #2

    My first thought with a new build is settings in the BIOS, many times something has to be changed.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 9
    windows 7 pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    I have checked the bios settings over and over and I confidant that the bios setting are good. The drives don't disappear, they just change pecking order. I noticed on my last loadup that in disk manager the HDD array is marked as volume 0, and the SSD is marked as volume 1. Is it possible that once I initialize the HDD array it takes priority due to it being volume 0, thus becoming C:\ and bumping the SSD marked as volume 1 to E:\. Maybe I need to have the HDD array physically disconnected from the motherboard, and not just connected but in a unformatted state. Opinions?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 25,847
    Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
       #4

    Were all drives disconnected except the new ssd when you installed windows?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 113
    Windows 11 Home x64
       #5

    SSD connected to SATA 0?


    Try putting the SSD on the lowest number SATA port. Mine starts at 0, I have two drives in my box and had to connect the SSD to SATA 0 for things to work right.

    I could be wrong and someone please correct me if I am but I think the boot drive is supposed to be on the lowest SATA port.
      My Computer


  6. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #6

    Aparently there is an active partition on the HDDs. Further the SSD does not seem to be first in the BIOS boot sequence.

    Change the BIOS boot order and deactivate any active partition that might be on the HDDs.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 9
    windows 7 pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #7

    First no the all the drives were connected when I did the install. The HDD were in a fresh unformatted state. Second I can't change the sata port of the SSD, it's a Crucial 128gb sata m.2 attached directly to the motherboard.None of the drives had a partition of any sort except the 100mb made by the windows install on the SSD. And third I made sure over and over again that the boot sequence was only the SSD, I even erased the raid array but it made no difference. The more I think of it, I think the error I made was having all the drives connected, instead of only the SSD physically connected loading windows then physically connect the HDD array.
      My Computer


  8. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #8

    The more I think of it, I think the error I made was having all the drives
    connected, instead of only the SSD physically connected loading windows then
    physically connect the HDD array.
    I think you are on the correct track. If there are multiple drives connected durung a Windows installation, the installer can play all kinds of acts on you.

    Have a look whether it created a small 100MB active partition on one of the HDDs.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 9
    windows 7 pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #9

    No there was no 100mb partition on the HDD array.
    I am going to disconnect the HDD array and reinstall windows, then connect the HDD and see what happens. Hopefully this will do the trick. I let you guys know how it goes later on tonight.
    Thanks a lot to everyone for the helping hand :)
      My Computer

  10.    #10

    Please post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image
      My Computer


 
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